Babakov: Russia to strengthen air defenses in the Arctic

Russia's Armed Forces will strengthen air defenses in the Arctic, said Major General Sergei Babakov, who is in charge of the Russian Air Force antiaircraft missile troops.

Rossiya Segodnya writes that additional air defense systems will be deployed in the Arctic.

"We will definitely increase the force there. It will have a radar field, air force command and control centers, and active assets of the antiaircraft missile troops," Gen. Babakov said.

Engineers will create an Arctic version of the Pantsir-S missile-and-canon system.

"We plan to seriously improve this system for operation in the Arctic zone, so that only the modified version of Pantsir-S will be supplied to the Polar region," Babakov said.

Pantsir-S (SA-22 Greyhound) is a track mounted short- to-medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system designed to protect civilian and military targets from all types of existing or prospective air attack weapons.